Man jailed for 1 year for stealing over €102,000 from The Cope

A man has been jailed for 1 year for stealing €102,000 from The Cope, Annagry.
52 year old Billy Mooney of St Peter’s Terrace, Dungloe took sums ranging from €2000 to €19,800 over a two year period from 2014 to 2016 while he was working there.
Mr Mooney pleaded guilty to 18 charges of fraud and one of false accounting at Letterkenny Circuit Court.
The court heard he stole the cash in a complex fraud at the company’s Annagry outlet but gardaí did not believe he spent the money on himself.
Instead, its reported by RTE News, that he wired the money by Western Union Transfer to men he met online who claimed they had lost their jobs and whose families had become ill.
The company became aware of the fraud when Mr Mooney told another employee that he was in trouble.
CEO of the company, Mark Sharkey, contacted gardaí believing there had been a major fraud at the outlet.
The court was told that none of the missing money has since been paid back to the company.
Barrister for the accused, John McLaughlin, said the 52 year old got involved in chat rooms with other men and that in his mind he was in a romantic relationship.